Media Release
Mangaluru, Jan 25: Fr Raju Felix Crasta, Catholic priest of Jamshedpur diocese of Jharkhand, hailing from Chokemoole of Kollangana, St Thomas Parish of Kasaragod district on January 22 successfully defended his thesis on Indian Philosophy on the topic 'Avibhaga-Bhedabheda (Indivisible Difference And Non-Difference) in the Vijñanam?tabha?yam Of Vijñanabhik?u: A Thread That Unites Divergent Aspects of Reality'.
His thesis was done under the guidance of Dr Henry D’Almeida SJ. Fr Crasta was honoured at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune in the presence of a large number of priests, nuns, seminarians, relatives, well-wishers, friends and members of Mangalorean Catholic Association (MCA).
The internal reader of the Doctoral Dissertation was Dr G Lazar, SVD and the external reader was Prof Dr Stephen C Thadam SJ. Prof Dr Nishant Alphonse Irudayadason was the chairperson of the session. Fr Crasta’s guide Dr Henry D’Almeida SJ has a specialization in Dvaita Philosophy from Pune University. He is a student of Prof Dr Shailaja Bapat, a well-known Indologist of Pune University. The session lasted for two hours, in which the doctoral candidate was questioned by readers, guide of the thesis and audience present. He is the first diocesan priest of Jamshedpur to complete his doctorate in Indology and also the first Catholic priest of Kasaragod deanery to earn a Doctorate in Vedantic tradition.
His work is a ground-breaking one. In general, people are aware of Advaita and Dvaita and seldom people refer to the third stream of Vedanta, known as Dvaitadvaita or Bhedabheda. He researched on the topic of Avibhaga-Bhedabheda of Vijñanabhik?u, a lesser-known Sa?khya-Vedantic thinker of the 16th century hailing from the present Uttar Pradesh, at the time of Mughal’ rule. He then applied to the present socio-religio-political situation of the time. The stress in the thesis was the divine inter-penetration in every culture and tradition and thus making it an accommodative feature for harmonious well-being of every being.
Fr Crasta spent eight years at JDV, Pune doing Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in philosophy. He is a lecturer of Indology at St Albert’s College, Ranchi (Jharkhand), also the visiting professor for many seminaries across the country. He is also an active member of Konkani Association in Pune as well as of Ranchi and has officiated at the Eucharistic celebrations and preached on Montifest celebrations conducted by the association.